Ilona Gurjanova LeArt [Design Management OÜ] Suur-Karja 14 Tallin Estonia tel +372 6464145 fax +372 6464147 leart@estpak.ee "My name is Ilona Gurjanova. I am from Tallinn, Estonia. I am a graphic designer. As an entrepreneur I have been offering graphical design and design management services to clients on for 10 years. I have my own design company, and am a member of the board of the Association of Estonian Designers. At the moment I am working at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication as a project manager of the Estonian Design Information Centre. Lately there has been a rising awareness of design in Estonia. The government has understood the value of design and has approved the design policy, whose aim is to develop the design sector and inform the enterprises and public sector about additional values that design can offer. Our government has decided to establish the Design Information Centre. There are about 600 active designers in Estonia. It is possible to study design at Estonian Art Academy and at some other educational institutions. But not everybody has the possibility to work within their profession, a lot of product designers work as graphic designers or Art Directors because the demand for designers is not high. The reason is that enterprises lack financial recourses and hiring a designer brings along a risk and it doesn’t guarantee that the cooperation will be a success. Also the awareness about the possibilities of using design and designers is poor. Therefore the Design Information Centre established with the assistance of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication will help to distribute the information. An on-line database of Estonian designers and a book about Estonian design is available. It should make the design information available to everybody, also to foreign businesses. Though the history of design is quite short in Estonia, as there were no market economy activities, there was a possibility for graphical design to develop because every company needed identity. Graphical design highly developed in Estonia. During Soviet times for graphical designers it was possible to develop corporate identity and posters. The advertising began with the early years of market economy. Estonian handcraft has a very long tradition. There are still masters who can teach their skills to younger generations. A lot of handcraft subjects are taught at Art Academy - for instance leatherwork. As Estonia lacks big industry, small run design products, where design is mixed with handcraft skills should be Estonia’s niche. Are Estonian products ready for export? What prevents succeeding on international markets? The main obstacle is that Estonia is not known and that people have prejudices against. The client makes the deal with the country that has given him guarantees and can deliver on time, and will not buy Estonian goods even if they are better and cheaper. It will take a long time to change this situation – our task is to introduce Estonia as much as possible that people can trust the country and will buy products and services from it. Estonian handcrafts, applied art and design have all been influenced by Scandinavian design. Although our neighbours include Latvians, Lithuanians and Russians we do have a common cultural language with Scandinavians with minimalist clarity and understanding of simple form. I think we are aware of the threats as well as the the positive sides of entering the EU. We have recent experience from past history as a smaller part of a huge country where information spread very slowly and there was a lot of bureaucracy. But we can’t deny the positive side of union, which brings free movement of information and people. The competition will be stronger but should motivate people to try more and use more design. I can’t believe that Estonians will not survive this competition. The proof is the level of Estonian designers nowadays. There has been recognition also abroad. The winner of the Red Dot award is one of them. We need time to make our country well known. We invite you to get acquainted with our beautiful Hansa town Tallinn! Welcome!"